The moment
Rooftop solar became an unexpected contest in New Zealand’s 2026 election campaign. National proposed low interest, rates based loans for solar panels, batteries and other electrification upgrades; Labour floated similar finance with subsidies of up to $3,000 and support for renters to install plug in solar. The pledges followed government moves to make residential solar easier to install and new electricity rules that let more households export surplus power to local networks.
The article, written with Dat Tien Doan, Esther Aigwi and Franklin Nkado, asked whether those measures would be enough to drive uptake at scale, and answered with evidence from the School’s research.
The next challenge is building confidence rather than simply reducing costs.
The Conversation, 20 July 2026
The argument
Drawing on a survey and interviews with professionals across the building and energy sectors, the article argued that cost is only one part of the decision. Households weigh upfront costs against expected long term returns, electricity savings, export payments and future policy settings. Budget constraints ranked as the largest barrier, followed by low payments for exported electricity and limited incentives; as one participant put it, solar is often the first thing cut when construction budgets tighten.
Optimised solar design, battery integration and government incentives were ranked the most effective levers. The research examined solar within the Passive House framework, where very low energy demand makes the barriers and enablers easier to see, and where homes increasingly generate part or all of their own energy.
The design point
The most overlooked finding was that rooftop solar is a building design decision as much as an energy one. Roof orientation, structural capacity, electrical infrastructure and future battery integration are far cheaper to plan before construction than to retrofit. Finance helps households buy panels; design determines whether their homes can use them well.
The conclusion was that the next challenge is confidence rather than cost: confidence that solar will deliver long term value, that exported electricity will be fairly rewarded, and that homes are designed for it from the outset. Only when finance, market settings, design and policy work together is solar likely to become the obvious choice rather than the first feature to disappear.
Reach
Published by The Conversation on 20 July 2026, the article was republished by RNZ, interest.co.nz, Scoop and Yahoo News Australia, carrying the School’s research into the national election debate at the moment policy was being decided.